Atlanta Falcons: Got it wrong cutting WR Reggie Davis

The Atlanta Falcons made an error in cutting their roster down from 90 to 53 this past Saturday by electing to keep Nick Williams over Reggie Davis at wide receiver

There isn’t a whole lot to complain about when discussing the work done by Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Dan Quinn. The two have worked great together since Quinn arrives in 2015. They’ve worked together so well that many call their roster the most complete in the NFC.

That doesn’t mean they don’t make errors. On Saturday they did just that when cutting the roster down from 90 players to 53. They elected to keep six receivers in going with Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu, Taylor Gabriel, Justin Hardy, Andre Roberts and Nick Williams. Two names that were stars during the preseason that are missing from this list are Marvin Hall and Reggie Davis.

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While they retained Hall, the big mistake was exposing Davis to the waiver wire following a pretty impressive preseason out of the undrafted University of Georgia receiver. Davis outplayed several receivers and should have been kept over Williams.

The difference was there in production as Davis brought in six receptions for 83 yards as opposed to Williams’ five for 39 yards. That’s par for the course as Williams usually doesn’t go for big yards as the fifth-year receiver has less than 10-yards per catch on his 25 career receptions and is coming off a season in which he only had five receptions.

Davis also holds the edge in upside. The 21-year old showed big-play potential and is still learning and growing as a player. Williams is 26-years old and is what he is by this point.

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Maybe the staff felt he was the better player at this point in his career, but a sixth receiver usually won’t even dress on Sundays. Atlanta should have looked down the road and decided that Davis showed enough to work with moving forward. They missed out though as he was claimed by the Cleveland Browns, which goes to show he really did make an impression.